The economic squeeze is pushing up poverty rates for older adults

A resident receives donated food items at Curley's House Food Bank last year in Miami, Fla. Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

The poverty rate among seniors rose for the fifth straight year in 2025, "a trend no other age group experienced," according to an AARP Foundation analysis of a new Census Bureau report .

AARP Foundation finds women are far more likely than men to age into poverty, and the trend starts earlier as low-income older adults struggle to stay employed and save up in the crucial years before retirement.

"We are seeing people 50 to 64, by every single measure, in a more precarious position," said Claire Casey, president of AARP Foundation, which is the philanthropic affiliate of AARP.

One in eight Americans in that age group now lives in poverty, "and a lot more are just above that line," she said. "And those are folks who are not able really to put anything aside for their future because they're thinking about how am I going to get food on the table? How am I going to afford my housing?"

The poverty rate is even higher among those 65 and over, at 15.4% – and nearly 17% for women. That includes 3 million additional seniors since 2019. The AARP's analysis is based on a supplemental measure of poverty, which accounts for taxes, government benefits and additional expenses.

The rise bucks a larger trend that saw poverty fall to a record low in 2025. The average U.S. family also made more money last year . The Trump administration and its supporters touted those numbers.

"Senate Republicans remain committed to lowering costs and making the American Dream more affordable and accessible," Bernadette Breslin with the National Republican Senatorial Committee said in a statement.